The MWL condemns all forms of torture and
violation of human rights being practiced in Uzbeckistan prisons and
worldwide. The Humans Rights Watch group has documented at least 17 deaths
of prisoners since December of 2000. An example of a recent case was
Otamaza Gafarov who died in prison on May 3 with noted bruises on body.
Approximately 7700 individuals have been imprisoned for their political
and/or religious beliefs. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated
practice - many countries around the world engage in imprisonment of
individuals because of their beliefs/political ideation and ultimately
become victims of torture in the prisons. We call on the international
community to help in the struggle to end the human rights abuses
worldwide. May God help us all in this struggle.